Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Storms: Flood Control

The Lord Bishop of Sheffield: To ask His Majesty's Government whatassessment they have made of the damage caused by flooding following (1) Storm Babet, and (2) Storm Ciarán; and what steps they are taking to combat the increase in the frequency and severity of flooding caused by climate change.

Lord Benyon: The Government acknowledges the devastating impact Storm Babet and Storm Ciarán have had on householders and businesses and sympathises with those affected. The Environment Agency has been inspecting assets that may have been impacted. As of Wednesday 22 November, the Environment Agency have conducted almost 12,000 inspections – these inspections are in response to both storms. During Storm Babet the Environment Agency estimate that around 2,150 properties flooded, and around 97,000 were protected. During Storm Ciarán estimates are that around 180 properties flooded and around 42,000 properties were protected. This Government is acting to drive down flood risk from every angle. in July 2020 we published a long-term Policy Statement, which sets out our ambition to create a nation more resilient to future flood and coastal erosion risk. Alongside this, the Environment Agency’s National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England and Roadmap to 2026 is helping to create climate resilient places. The Government is investing a record £5.2 billion over 6 years in flood and coastal erosion schemes to better protect communities across England. In March 2023, the Environment Agency estimated that approximately £1.5 billion of the investment programme had been spent, with over 200 flood risk schemes completed. Around 60,000 properties have benefited from better protection since the start of the current 6-year programme (between April 2021 to March 2023). This takes the total number of properties protected to 374,000 since 2015. Lastly, Government is investing £200 million in a flood and coastal resilience innovation programme supporting local projects across the country. In September 2023, Defra also announced a new £25 million natural flood management programme. This information can be found on Gov.uk.

Furs: EU Law

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: To ask His Majesty's Government whatrecent discussions they have had with their counterparts in the EU regarding the introduction of legislation to ban (1) fur farming, and (2) fur sales.

Lord Benyon: No recent discussions have been held with EU member states regarding the introduction of legislation to ban fur farming or fur sales. We are continuing to build our evidence base on the fur sector, which will be used to inform any future action on the fur trade. This includes commissioning the Animal Welfare Committee to explore current responsible sourcing practices in the fur industry.

Microplastics: Washing Machines

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: To ask His Majesty's Government whatplans they have to tackle microplastic pollution entering waterways from washing machines.

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: To ask His Majesty's Government whatassessment they have made of the potential environmental benefits of mandating microfibre filters on new washing machines.

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to theirpolicy paper Plan for Water, updated on 4 April, what funding they intend to provide to developmicrofibre filters on new washing machines.

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their policy paperPlan for Water, updated on 4 April,what plans they have to set a timetable for the enforcement of a mandate for microfibre filters on new washing machines.

Lord Benyon: The Government has already taken significant steps to tackle plastic pollution (e.g. microplastics), including restricting the supply of several single-use plastics through introducing a plastic packaging tax from April 2022; restricting the supply of plastic straws, plastic drink stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds; and preventing billions of plastic microbeads from entering the ocean each year by introducing a ban on microbeads in rinse off personal care products. The majority of microfibres are removed through water treatment and analysis of the evidence available to date does not show that there is a sufficient benefit to the environment that can justify legislation to mandate the microfibre filters in new washing machines with prices ranging from £30 to £122 per machine, dependent on manufacturer and whether the filters are disposable or reusable. Defra’s Plan for Water therefore includes a commitment for industry to develop low cost, effective microfibre filters on washing machines and encourage their effective use. We have met industry colleagues and posed this challenge and we look forward to any proposals they are able to share when they are able to do so.

Department for Work and Pensions

Food Poverty: Government Assistance

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government, following the rise in demand for food banks, what steps they are taking to support families experiencing food poverty.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: Government recognises that understanding food security is important and this is why we added internationally used food security questions to the Family Resources Survey in 2019/20 and added further questions on foodbank use in 2021/22. These statistics help our understanding of the characteristics of people most in need and, alongside the broad suite of poverty data, help to shape future policy considerations. We are committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and children. From April 2023, we uprated benefit rates and State Pensions by 10.1% and, subject to Parliamentary approval, working-age benefits will rise by 6.7% from April 2024, in line with inflation. With almost one million job vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting people, including parents, to move into and progress in work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risks of poverty. The latest statistics show that in 2021/22 children living in workless households were 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty, after housing costs, than those where all adults work. To help people into work, our core Jobcentre offer provides a range of options, including face-to-face time with work coaches and interview assistance. In addition, there is specific support targeted towards young people, people aged 50 plus and job seekers with disabilities or health issues. To help people progress in work, our voluntary in-work progression offer, rolled-out from April 2022, is now available in all Jobcentres across Great Britain. We estimate that around 1.2m low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work. To support parents into work, on 28 June 2023, the maximum monthly amounts that a parent can be reimbursed for their childcare increased by 47%, from £646.35 for one child and £1,108.04 for two or more children to £950.92 and £1,630.15 respectively. Importantly, we can now also provide even more help with upfront childcare costs when parents move into work or increase their hours. We are also committed to ending low hourly pay for those on the National Living Wage (NLW) in the UK. From 1 April 2023, the National Living Wage increased by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over. Further to this, on 1 April 2024, we will increase the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 years and over by 9.8% to £11.44 representing an increase of over £1,800 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW. This Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living which is why we are providing total support of £104bn over 2022-2025 to help households and individuals. Included within this, to support low-income households with increasing rent costs, the government will raise Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents in April 2024. This will benefit 1.6 million low-income households, who will be around £800 a year better off on average in 2024-25.

Social Security Benefits: Anxiety and Mental Health

The Marquess of Lothian: To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are currently claiming disability benefit because of mental health conditions, including severe anxiety.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: Figures for the number of people currently claiming disability benefits – Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance (DLA), and Attendance Allowance (AA) due to mental health conditions. Table (a) – Claimants on the PIP caseload with mental health conditionsBenefit Number of cases PIP1,119,500 Table (b) – Claimants on the DLA caseload with mental health conditionsBenefit Number of cases DLA56,500 Table (c) – Claimants on the AA caseload with mental health conditionsBenefit Number of cases AA26,500 Notes: These figures are produced using recent data available from Stat-Xplore (May 2023).Figures for PIP and DLA exclude Scotland.Figures for AA include Scotland (as AA has yet to be devolved to Scotland).Figures for PIP are cases where psychiatric disorders have been listed as the claimant’s main disabling condition.A PIP claimant’s main disabling condition is recorded during their assessment. Medical conditions are shown as recorded on the PIP Computer System (PIPCS).Claimants may have multiple conditions which are not recorded by PIPCS.All volumes have been rounded to the nearest 100.Figures for DLA and AA are cases where psychosis, psychoneurosis, or personality disorder have been recorded as the claimant’s main disabling condition.Main disabling condition is the main medical reason for the claim. Medical conditions are sourced from information recorded on the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) computer system (DLACS) and AA computer system.Claimants may have multiple conditions which are not recorded by DLACS or the AA computer system.

State Retirement Pensions: British Nationals Abroad

Lord Wasserman: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byViscount Younger of Leckie on 26 October (HL10597),in how manycountries there is a legal requirement to uprate the UK State Pensions paid to those UK pensioners who live there; and which countries they are.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The UK State Pension is payable worldwide to those who meet the qualifying conditions, without regard to nationality, and the amount is based on an individual’s National Insurance record. UK State Pensions are up-rated overseas only where there is a legal requirement to do so. The Government has no plans to change this policy. People who live outside the UK will not receive an increase in their State Pension unless they live in:- an EEA country or Switzerland; or- a country with which DWP have a reciprocal agreement that allows for it. These countries are:BarbadosBermudaGibraltarGuernseyThe Isle of ManIsraelJamaicaJerseyMauritiusthe PhilippinesTurkeyThe United States of America, andthe separate republics of the former Yugoslavia* that are not EU Member States (Bosnia and Herzegovina; Kosovo; Montenegro; North Macedonia; and Serbia).*Following the break-up of Yugoslavia, the UK agreement with former Yugoslavia now covers Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

Home Office

Asylum: Rwanda

Lord Browne of Ladyton: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to (1) the remarks byLord Murray of Blidworth on 10 May (HL Deb col 1922), and (2) the Supreme Court's decision on the government's Rwanda policy, what methodology they used in designating Rwanda as a safe country for the offshore processing of asylum claims.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: We undertook an analysis of a wide range of publicly available evidence from a variety of reliable sources about Rwanda’s asylum system and human rights situation. The information was carefully selected in accordance with internationally established country-of-origin information research methods.